The sky was slightly white, and the morning breeze was blowing gently.

Bisha walked through the corridor and hurried down the stairs.

At the bottom of the long stairs, a graceful figure stood in the cool morning light, with black hair, clear eyes, a light yellow jacket and flowered skirt. In her hand was a horse whip, the tail of which tapped on the stone steps from time to time, and she looked thoughtful.

"I want to see the Master. Is it convenient for the Master to see me?"

She saw Bi Suo, put away the whip, took off her veil, and said directly.

Bisa hesitated for a moment and said, "The king was feeling better yesterday, so it's inconvenient for him to see the princess."

"Why is it inconvenient?"

"The king is going to close the palace again. He said that he would not have enough time to see the princess off. He prepared a gift for her."

After Bisha finished speaking, he calmed down on the steps.

Yao Ying was silent for a while, then smiled and said, "That means the wizard is not in retreat yet. I just want to talk to him for a few words. It won't take too long. General, please tell the wizard that I'm waiting here."

"Or is it that I can only see the wizard at night? Then I will come at night."

Her voice was still gentle, with a smile on her brows, but Bi Su felt her scalp tingling and she immediately turned around and went back into the hall.

The doctor had just finished giving acupuncture to Tanmarajiva. His face was pale, and his exposed shoulders and back were sweaty and shiny. After listening to the report, he sat there in a daze for a while.

Bi Suo said, "King, the princess is waiting for me to reply... The princess also said that it is inconvenient for you to see her now, so she will come at night."

Yaoying has always been considerate and knows that she is an outsider, so she doesn't ask too many questions. But when she insists on doing something, Bisu has no way to fool her.

Tanmaraka wiped off the sweat on his body, stood up, put on his robes, and said, "Princess, please come in."

When Yaoying entered the hall, Tanmarajiva was sitting in front of the desk, holding a sutra in his hand, his back straight, his expression normal, his demeanor solemn, and it was completely hard to tell that he had just had acupuncture treatment.

"Princess Lao came to see me the night before. The princess is the commander-in-chief of the Western Army and is busy with many things. She is in a hurry to go to Gaochang. Bi Suo shouldn't have bothered the princess to take care of me and delayed her trip."

He raised his eyes, looked at Yaoying, and said slowly.

"From now on, Bisha will not bother the princess with these trivial matters. I have approved the documents sent by Gaochang and have met with Duke Wei. The princess is no longer the daughter of Modanga and can set off immediately."

Yao Ying looked around.

There was nothing next to his desk; the small desk she used to use was gone.

She remembered that the small desk was black lacquer and gilded, with lotus, treasure pond, scroll grass, small sitting Buddha painted on it, and all the writing instruments and stationery she was used to. She used to bend over the desk to read and write letters, while Tanmarajiva sat beside her reading the sutras. When she encountered something she was confused about, she turned to him and asked him, and he explained it to her, the wide sleeves of his gold-patterned cassock brushing against the back of her hand from time to time.

He was so gentle to her. She felt safe and at ease when he was around her. She had no guard at all. Over time, she unknowingly came to trust and get close to him. Sometimes she would even tease him. She felt in her heart that he would not be angry, and even if he was angry, it was for her good and would not last long.

The small case is gone.

Yao Ying sat down a little further away from Tanmarajya and said, "This is about the health of the master, it is definitely not a trivial matter."

Tanmaraka said calmly: "Princess, you are not a doctor and do not understand medical principles. I have servants around me, so I should not trouble you."

Yao Ying lifted her eyelids and stared at him for a while.

"Master, Prince Mobito has proposed to me."

She said calmly.

The room suddenly fell silent, with only the rustling sound of the crystal curtains swaying gently.

Bi Suo stood at the door, her body stiff and she dared not utter a word.

After a while, Tanmaraka put down the sutra, his face calm, and said: "I know, it was I who approved Mobito's request."

"So, Master, you agree to this marriage? If I agree to the marriage proposal, the alliance between the royal court and the Western Army will be more solid."

Tanmarajiva clenched the Buddhist beads tightly in his fingers and looked at Yaoying with calm blue eyes.

"The princess's marriage is her own decision and has nothing to do with anyone else."

In other words, it has nothing to do with him.

Yao Ying stared at him for a long while, her lips curled up slightly: "I was reckless. The master is a great monk. Please don't blame me for bringing up such a mundane matter as marriage."

Tanmaraka remained silent.

Yao Ying smiled and stood up: "I won't bother the mage anymore... The mage is right, there is a doctor by the mage's side, and I don't understand anything..."

She said goodbye and walked out. When she reached the door, she turned around with a slight frown on her face.

"I am living in a foreign land. I am very happy to meet someone like the mage and to have met him."

"The wizard saved me. I am very grateful to him."

"Master, your health is not good. You must take good care of yourself. No matter how busy you are, you must pay attention to your health."

"I have caused you a lot of trouble these days... Take care, Master."

She finished speaking word by word, her eyes fixed on Tanmaraka. She looked at him for a long time, then turned and left.

Her lace-trimmed virgin skirt brushed past the threshold, and her figure disappeared in the floating brilliant sunlight.

Bisha watched her walk away without looking back, her heart pounding.

This farewell was so peaceful, so peaceful that it seemed like just an ordinary farewell, but he had a bad feeling in his heart: after Princess Wen Zhao left, she would never come to the Holy City again!

He was extremely anxious and turned around and walked into the palace, "King..."

Before he could utter the words of reminder, his face changed drastically, and he quickly ran forward to help up Tanmaragha who had fallen in front of the desk.

Tanmarajiva placed one hand on the desk, sat up straight, shook his hand to indicate that everything was fine, clenched his teeth, and the pain made beads of sweat appear on his forehead.

Bi Suo said anxiously: "King! I will go and get Princess Wen Zhao back..."

"No."

Tanmaraka raised his pale face.

"I am the king of the Holy City and the son of Buddha in the royal court."

"Since you don't want to enter the world of mortals, how can you keep her?"

His voice was hoarse and his back was covered in cold sweat, which soaked the robes he had just put on.

Bi Suo sighed, helped him to stand up, and sent him back to the inner room.

He sat cross-legged on the couch, as usual, waiting for the pain to subside. His body was trembling and he felt hot and cold. He groped for his Buddhist beads with his hands and accidentally touched a package, and he opened his eyes.

He pushed the handkerchief open, and amber-colored honey spilled out. The room was stuffy and hot, and the honey had already sticked together.

She knew he loved thorny honey, so she bought it specially for him.

Tanmarajiva lowered her eyes, wrapped the handkerchief, put it back on the pillow, found the Buddhist beads, held them tightly, closed her eyes and sat quietly.

The breeze is curling and the smoke is wispy.

…

Yaoying rode away from the royal temple. In front of her, she heard the sound of hooves like thunder. A horse galloped over and stopped beside her.

"What are you doing at the Wang Temple? Did the Buddhist summon you?"

Li Zhongqian frowned and asked.

Yao Ying shook her head, her face pale, and said softly: "It is not the Buddha who summoned me, but I came to ask to see the Buddha..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing..." Yao Ying held the reins tightly, her eyes dull, "Brother, we should go now."

A strange look flashed in Li Zhongqian's eyes and he nodded.

"good."

The brother and sister returned to the silk shop, having packed their luggage long ago. Yaoying came to the Holy City to bring Li Zhongqian to see Tanmo Luojia and to handle some official business with the royal court. Tanmo Luojia approved all the documents related to Gaochang overnight, and the matter of redeeming prisoners and slaves was also resolved. It was as if he was urging her to leave, and the rest of the matters could be left to the caravan, and she didn't need to stay any longer.

Li Zhongqian asked: "The envoys from the Wujili tribe are waiting for your reply. How do you think we should deal with them?"

Yao Ying was in a trance.

Li Zhongqian frowned and asked again.

"How do you plan to respond to Mobito's marriage proposal?"

Yao Ying came back to her senses, raised her hand to run her hair, and felt a slight coolness on her arms.

She wore the Buddhist beads given to her by Tanmaraka.

This morning, Prajna told her that every year at the Dharma Assembly, believers would ask the Buddha for blessings, and Tanmarajiva would order the King Temple to donate food, clothing, money, or scriptures to the people, but he never gave away his personal belongings.

Yao Ying stood in front of the railing, looked in the direction of Wang Temple, and smiled.

"I will write a letter and give it to the messenger. When Mobhido returns from the battlefield, he will know my answer."

"Don't think about it anymore? Mobhido is not in a hurry for your response. He can wait."

Yao Ying shook her head, "I have made up my mind."

She wrote the letter and asked her personal guard to deliver it.

The brother and sister left the caravan behind and set off immediately.

Before leaving, Yaoying ordered her personal soldiers to deliver the medicinal herbs she had collected during this period to Bisu's mansion.

"Princess, do you have any message?"

Yao Ying said calmly: "No need, General Ashina knows who these medicines are for."

"Want to leave a message?"

"No need, just say it was sent by the caravan."

Yaoying looked back at the pagodas standing quietly in the sunlight, pulled the reins, and turned her horse around.

Monks do not tell lies.

She had never thought that Tanmaragha would actually lie to her.

…

The two men traveled day and night, and all the tribal towns they passed through along the way received the news in advance and prepared horses and dry food for them.

Whenever Yao Ying arrived at an inn, someone would send a letter to the Holy City to inform it where she was. At the same time, the roads would be blocked and no outsiders would be allowed to pass.

After Li Zhongqian found out, he asked the people at the post house why they were making such a big fuss.

The man replied awkwardly: "This place is not like the Holy City. Many people here are ignorant and can be incited by a few words."

Li Zhongqian understood, and Tanmo Luojia sent people to inform all the towns in advance to prevent civilians from besieging Li Yaoying again.

A few days later, they arrived safely in Sand City.

The horse thieves from the Wuquan tribe were still waiting for Li Zhongqian in Sand City. When they knew he had returned, they came looking for him eagerly.

The personal soldier came over with the list and reported: "Princess, we have checked everything. We confiscated those who were poor and vicious, and we took in a group of refugees."

Before leaving, Yao Ying asked her personal soldiers to register and accept those who volunteered to join the army and find out their identities. They have been busy with these things these days.

As they were talking, there were hurried footsteps coming down the stairs and a tall figure rushed into the room.

"Princess, great victory in Shazhou!"

Yao Ying looked up, recognized the person, and was overjoyed: "General Yang!"

The young man standing in front of her, wearing a round-necked robe and holding a long sword at his waist, was Yang Qian, whom she had not seen for a long time.

Yang Qian clasped his fists towards Yao Ying and said, "Your Highness."

He was thinner, more tanned, and had a few more scars on his face, but he looked very energetic. The inappropriate arrogance on his body was gone, and he looked heroic and full of vigor.

"Has Shazhou been taken?"

Yang Qian smiled and said, "We've captured them! The Northern Rong were in chaos. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's Liangzhou Army was guarding the eastern route and intercepting the Northern Rong reinforcements. Zhang Jiu took the opportunity to unite with the local noble families, recaptured Shazhou, and drove away the Northern Rong troops entrenched in Shazhou! The messenger has arrived in Gaochang, and Bodhidharma sent me to take the princess back to Gaochang."

Yaoying shook off the depression she had felt for many days and was overjoyed.

Only if everything goes smoothly in Shazhou and Guazhou can we truly open up the Helan River and recover all lost territory.

She found Li Zhongqian and said, "Brother, we won a great victory in Shazhou and recovered Gaochang. Next we have to take Yizhou and unite with the Liangzhou Army to open up the northern route to Gansu, Su, Gua, Sha, and Yizhou... From Hexi to the Western Regions, recovering the lost territory is just around the corner!"

Li Zhongqian looked at his sister with shining eyes, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He said, "The Western Army has too few soldiers. We have to be on guard against the Northern Rong people coming back."

Yao Ying frowned slightly, she had been worried about this problem before. The Western Army was now concentrating its forces to recapture the important town. The troops were insufficient and they had to defend the city. It was impossible for them to divide their forces to pursue the Northern Rong army. If the Northern Rong people regrouped their forces, they could counterattack at any time.

"Now we have to expand the Western Army, stockpile more food and military equipment, and find a way to open up the Central Plains Post Road..."

Yao Ying glanced at Li Zhongqian and swallowed the rest of her words.

Also, the Western Army must contact Li Xuanzhen of the Liangzhou Army and cooperate closely with the Liangzhou Army to maintain the current results.

Yang Qian was impatient and said, "The nobles in Gaochang are quite sensible and understand the righteousness. When Bodhidharma imprisoned Lady Ina, they immediately offered food and money. However, Luntai, Jingcheng, Qianshucheng... and the Southern Province under Kunlun refused to submit to the Western Army. Their leaders are puppets of the Northern Rong people. Please ask the princess to hurry to Gaochang as soon as possible and go with the messenger to announce it to the other provinces and persuade them to submit."

Yao Ying nodded.

After bidding farewell to the commander of Shacheng, several people left the city. Li Zhongqian put on his armor, took the horse thieves who begged to follow him, and headed straight for Wuquan.

Yang Qian also wanted to go, but Li Zhongqian asked him to stay and protect Yao Ying.

Yaoying then walked south.

On the third day, Li Zhongqian led his troops to catch up with them. He led the refugees to attack the occupied Wuquan and helped them regain their homeland. Now Wuquan has changed hands, and the refugees who want to live a stable life have returned to their hometown, while others still follow him.

Yao Ying asked with a smile: "Brother, are you willing to be their leader?"

Li Zhongqian glanced at her and said, "No matter which tribe you are from, as long as you can be of use to me, you can join the Western Army."

Yaoying felt a warm feeling in her heart. Li Zhongqian didn't want to care about the chaotic situation in the Western Regions, but once he decided to join the Western Army, he would try his best.

As they hurried on their way, they gathered scattered volunteers, and their team grew stronger and stronger.

On the way, many of the towns and tribes they passed by had just been burned, looted and plundered by the Northern Rong rebels, resulting in heavy casualties.

Yao Ying comforted the people during the day, handled official documents by lamplight at night, and discussed military affairs with Li Zhongqian and Yang Qian. She didn't realize that time passed quickly.

One day, they crossed the endless Gobi Desert, feeling tired and thirsty, and finally saw a small oasis surrounded by lush forests ahead. They urged their horses forward in surprise, but just as they got closer, they heard a deafening sound of fighting in the distance. They quickly reined in their horses, sent out scouts, and rested on the spot.

After a while, the scout returned and reported that there were two groups of people fighting ahead. One was the Western Army and the other was probably the Northern Rong people. The two groups had similar strengths and the battle situation was tense.

Yang Qian immediately called up his troops and led several hundred men through the dense forest and suddenly attacked from the rear of the battle formation. The Western Army thought that reinforcements had arrived and was greatly encouraged. The two sides cooperated from inside and outside to attack the Northern Rong army. The Northern Rong people were attacked from both sides and soon abandoned their weapons and fled in all directions.

After the battle, Yang Qian brought several young generals to see Yao Ying and said with a smile: "Princess, this place is not far from Gaochang. Recently, the remnants of the Northern Rong and their vassal tribes have been blocking the road and killing caravans and civilians. They received a call for help and went out of the city to help. They didn't expect that the remnants of the Northern Rong were so numerous. Fortunately, they met us."

Several captains came forward to greet Yao Ying, looking a little embarrassed.

Yao Ying thought they were not used to discussing military affairs with women and did not think much about it. They tidied themselves up, drank some water, and escorted the caravan and civilians to Gaochang City.

The people in the city had received the news from the scouts long ago, and they led the people out of the city to welcome the enemy. The wide road outside the city was crowded with people.

Bodhidharma specially sent a team of personal soldiers to wait on the road with a canopied carriage. "Princess, do you want to ride in the carriage? This precious carriage was built by skilled craftsmen hired by the city lord at great expense. Even Lady Ina has never ridden in it!"

Yao Ying laughed, "No, I'll ride into the city."

When Yang Qian and the captains accompanied her and appeared on the street, there was thunderous cheers and the people swarmed over her, singing, dancing and throwing flowers at them.

Yao Ying rode into the city on a handsome and clear-minded divine horse. Her head and body were covered with flower petals. Her skin was as white as snow and her appearance was as beautiful as a flower. She was so radiant that people dared not look at her closely. The people were stunned and rushed forward shouting her title. For a moment, flowers fell like rain, almost blocking her view.

Li Zhongqian signaled his personal soldiers to separate the crowd, rode forward, and protected Yao Ying as they squeezed through the surging crowd.

Bodhidharma came forward and said with a smile: "The people are all looking forward to seeing the princess, how come she is walking so fast?"

Yaoying took a breath. If she was any slower, she would be buried by the flowers.

"By the way, the envoys from Wei have also arrived. They said they are old acquaintances of the princess."

"Oh? Which family is this kid coming?"

Yao Ying looked towards the gatehouse.

At the gatehouse, several men in brocade robes rode up on horseback, and only stopped when they were only one horse length away from her. They all looked at her, some with excited expressions, while others said nothing with calm eyes.

Yao Ying was stunned.

Li Zhongqian beside her glanced at the men and raised his lips: "Zheng Jing is here too?"

Zheng Jing looked at Yao Ying with emotion.

"Seventh Princess..."

He originally wanted to say "I hope you are well", but when he thought of all the hardships Li Yaoying had gone through, he really couldn't say it. Thousands of words were stuck in his throat, and in the end, only a long sigh could be uttered.

Others didn't know what to say and could only look at Yaoying and smile foolishly.

Yaoying didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Except for Zheng Jing, the other men in front of her seemed to be the sons of noble families who had ridden horses to chase her.

"Why did Sanlang come to Gaochang City?"

Yao Ying asked Zheng Jing first, her tone calm.

It was as if there were no mountains or rivers between them, and she just occasionally met them in the streets of Chang'an, stopped her horse, and talked and laughed with them.

Zheng Jing let out a long sigh in his heart.

No matter when or where, whenever he saw the Seventh Princess, he would be a little at a loss.

Zheng Jing concealed his emotion and said, "The emperor wants to send an envoy, and we want to come here in person to find out the situation in the Western Regions. We are worried about the princess and Duke Wei, so we came here."

As he spoke, he winked at Yao Ying while Li Zhongqian wasn't paying attention.

Yaoying understood and rode away a little.

Zheng Jing whispered, "Princess, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is investigating the Xie family."

Yao Ying's heart tensed up: "Why is he investigating the Xie family?"

Zheng Jing said: "I don't know about this either. The prince found the old man from the Xie family and is still investigating the old servants around Empress Xie."

"Thanks for reminding me."

Yao Ying frowned slightly. Did Li Xuanzhen still want to harm Li Zhongqian?

The two of them had just whispered a few words when they were interrupted by someone else. A man dressed as a royal guard rode over and greeted Yao Ying: "Princess Wen Zhao!"

Yao Ying was stunned when she saw the person coming.

Yuan Jue glanced at the young man from aristocratic family who followed Yao Ying eagerly, and clasped his fists towards her: "Princess, I came to Gaochang City to report the news under the order of the king, and have been staying in Gaochang ever since. A few days ago, I received a letter that the king ordered me to continue to stay in Gaochang."

Yaoying came back to her senses and hummed softly.

Tanmarajiva knew that she had arrived in Gaochang.

Yuanjue puffed out his chest, drove his horse closely beside her, and looked around vigilantly.

I heard that these men had all admired the princess, and one of them almost got engaged to the princess... He had to tell Biso about this.